Family
by JA Baker
Summary: At times of loss and grief, we need our family around us...
1. Chapter 1

**Rating: **PG

**Feedback: **Constructive criticisms always welcomed. Flames cheerfully ignored.

**Spoilers: **Buffy to end, X-Men 2.****

**Family**

He wasn't sure why he'd come here: he just needed to get away from the school, from everything that reminded him of her. Somehow the thought of going somewhere that had always felt like home appealed to him. He'd made his excuses and left, not knowing if he'd ever go back. The others had triad to help, even Logan, who was hurting himself, but in the end the memory's associated with the school had gotten too much, and he'd hit the road.

_LA welcomes carefully drivers!_

The singe whipped past so fast he almost missed the turn-off, and had to break sharply, almost losing control of his bike. He down-shifted, taking the corner faster than he normally would, but still maintaining control. He passed the crest of the last hill, the deep-blue Pacific Ocean filling the horizon, the setting sun sending sparkles off the water. Another time, and he may have found it beautiful, maybe even romantic, but now he hardly noticed it as he headed into the city.

The street's of Los Angeles where full of people, but he passed thought them like a ghost, just one face in a sea of them. The feeling of anonymity was refreshing: it had been almost ten years since he'd been back here, not since he had graduated from the school, and had come back to visit his aunt for the summer. He hadn't seen his two young cousins in years.

Young? Well, at 21 and 16 they where not that young, but they'd always be like little sisters to him.

The sun finally set, the bright Hollywood sign lighting up on the distant hillside casting ire light over the city. He cruised along Wilshire Boulevard, looking for the turn off. He stopped at a set of traffic lights and pulled the envelop from his jacket pocket, scanning the address on the back: the street it gave was less than 5-miles from where he was. The lights changed the car behind sounding its horn to get him moving. Gunning the engine, he took off, the streetlights reflecting in his red-lenses glasses.

He finally pulled up in front on an imposing Art-Deco building in a run-down area of town, a faded sigh proclaiming 'The Hyperion Hotel' above the door. The sound of music came from an upstairs window. He cocked his head to the side, wondering just who his cousins knew who would listen to The Who? He parked his bike next to a big black convertible and climbed the granite steppes to the entrance.

A short, bookish looking man stood behind the desk, "I'm afraid that you are out of luck if you are looking for a room." He said in an English accent, "Where booked solid."

"I'm not looking for a room." The biker pulled of his helmet, "I was told I could find Buffy and Dawn Summers here. I'm their cousin, Scott."

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

_Constructive criticisms always welcomed. Flames cheerfully ignored._

**Family, Part 2**

"I don't believe they've ever mentioned a cousin..." English started.

"SCOTT!!" A voice cried out from the stairway, followed by a blur of movement as Dawn ran into his arm, "God! It's been so long!"

"Hey kido, good to see you too." Scott hugged his young cousin, "I was just in the neighbourhood, so I decided to visit my two favourite cousins."

"Just in the neighbourhood?" Dawn looked at him, hands on hips in mock anger, "Since when has LA been 'just in the neighbourhood' for New York state? I thought you had a job teaching at some privet school there?"

"I did. I mean, I do." Scott's face fell, "There was, an accident, Jean was killed."

"Oh my God!" Dawn's jaw dropped, "What happened?"

"It's complicated..." Scott started.

"It always is." Buffy said from the main doorway, Willow and Kennedy looking over her shoulders, "Guy's, this is Scott Summers, my long-lost cousin from the East coast."

"It's good to see you too Buffy." Scott nodded, "I'm sorry I couldn't make it back for..."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure mom would have understood." Buffy brushed passed her cousin, "It was only her funeral after all."

"She's still a little upset about that." Dawn explained as Buffy disappeared upstairs, "Dad didn't show up, and then when you had to cancel on us... Well, she took it kind of hard."

The English guy behind the desk clear his throat.

"I'm sorry, Scott, this is Wesley Wyndam-Pryce: he's sort of in charge around here." Dawn nodded, "Wes, this is Scott Summers, my cousin: He lived with us for a while after his parents died."

"Nice to meet you, Mr Summers." Wesley nodded, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to the office." He disappeared out the front door and into the night.

"I thought you said he was the manager?" Scott asked Dawn.

"No: this isn't a hotel as such." Dawn explained, "We know the owner, and he offered to put us up after the whole 'Sunnydale sinking' incident. Wes works at a law firm called Wolfram-&-Hart most of the time: he's just here to make sure we're all ok."

"Are you?"

"Kind of: it's hard to keep track of everything that's happened the past few week's. That thing with everyone collapsing on the floor kind of freaked us all out a little."

"Yeah, I can see how it would..."

"Scott?"

"Nothing, nothing, just something I'd rather forget."

"Is it about Jean?"

"Yeah, but like I said; it's complicated."

"So?"

"Is there somewhere privet we can go and talk?"

* * *

"I can't believe you've kept the fact that you're a mutant from us all these years!" Dawn was pacing backwards and forwards along the roof of the Hyperion.

"It took me a while to get used to the concept myself." Scott was sat on an old chair left there years ago, looking at the city light far below, "And I was scared that you wouldn't want to be near me if you knew the truth."

"Why would you think that?"

"A lot of people can't deal with having mutants in the family: they freak-out."

"You should know that Buffy and I wouldn't do that." Dawn stopped pacing, "You're like the big brother I never had: there's no way I could stop liking you."

"I know, but I've seen a lot of close family's get torn apart by the revelation that one of them is a mutant."

"And so the school you teach at?"

"It's a school for mutants: all the teachers and students are mutants."

"Whoa, and I thought that my life was wired?"

"Huh?"

"It's a long story." Dawn blushed.

"So was mine." Scott sat up, "I'm not going anywhere."

TBC?


End file.
